rabbit ragu with pappardelle

A couple snapshots from dinner prep last Friday, I tried to record a video but my dying battery wouldn't let me. Oh well. I'm sure most of you are wondering what kind of people would even think of consuming something as cute as a rabbit; even I had to pause and second guess what we were about to do. I've had rabbit at restaurants but actually handling and cooking one turned out to be quite the experience. Well, granted I didn't do much but squirm and deal with BF teasing me incessantly about the dutch oven being a "bunny crematorium" (haha?) and jumping around imitating a rabbit (no, just no). Beyond that, the finished product was definitely worth it and was O-M-G delicious.

For anyone who is interested, we picked up our rabbit at Mission Market Fish & Poultry which is two blocks away from BF's apartment and is, in my opinion, probably the best place to go to for meat in the area. The recipe we used is from a New York Times article which has pretty straightforward step-by-step instructions. The article is a good read as well, I recommend it. Also, umm... I know I said that I didn't do much in the previous paragraph but I don't think it was clear enough that I did not cook this. I know I've said this multiple times but BF is the one who cooks in our relationship! I beat him at desserts and baking, so I suppose it evens out...

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making chicken enchiladas with chile verde

making enchiladas from Annabel Ly on Vimeo.

Put together a bunch of random clips to make this video of BF making enchiladas for us. The song is “sweet time replay (feat. dahlia)” by capsule. Thanks for all of the encouraging comments, I'm trying my best to deal and get over this as soon as possible! It's kind of strange to get used to "taking it easy" and I can't wait until things are normal again but it's interesting to take a step back and take a look at what I was doing wrong by stressing myself out so much. It's unnatural for everything to go exactly as planned and I really need to learn how to stop beating myself up for it. I'm trying, I'm trying.

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avocado and grape tomato salad with shrimp

Now that I have a working camera I can document more food adventures! This avocado and grape tomato salad is easy enough to make for a bonehead like me since there's no cooking involved. See, I can get around without BF cooking for me, alright? Anyway, after a spur of the moment Whole Foods trip to drown my sorrows with cheese (yes, cheese) I decided to make this salad.

First I took a pint of grape tomatoes, cut them in half, and added them to the bowl. Then I chopped half a cup of Italian parsley and added it, although in retrospect cilantro may have been better. I guess it just depends on what you prefer but next time I'm trying the latter. Or maybe both, hmm.

Next come the diced onion. I hate chopping onions more than anything and this time I actually had to step away for a couple minutes because my eyes were so messed up. I'm also surprised I managed to not cut myself doing this. Obviously I don't belong in the kitchen.

Next come the avocados. I actually didn't start eating avocados until recently when I stopped being so picky. I mean, come on, I live in freaking California! Whole Food's organic Hass avocados were perfect for this dish.

Okay, then comes a tablespoon of lemon juice and a tablespoon of oil. I bought this black truffle oil on a whim and man, is it strong. You can easily substitute extra virgin olive oil for it of course.

Finally, season it with sea salt and we're done! Simple, easy, and delcious. No stove involved! Oh wait... actually, I ended up adding shrimp. I picked up a pound of gulf shrimp at Whole Foods at a ridiculous price and couldn't help adding it to my salad! Did you know that most of the shrimp we eat are exported? Gulf shrimp come straight from Louisiana so they're much more fresh! Anyway, I just cooked them in boiling water with the shell on and peeled them after. Aren't they cute? Oh my little shrimp!

(I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'm the only person I know who thinks of food as "cute"...)

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molto bene

It's no coincidence that the number of times we've cooked Italian food has increased since BF moved into his new apartment. Lucca, a local Italian store, is right around the corner and we've been stopping by there at least once a week. This time around we tried their meatballs and fresh egg pasta. Delizioso! It's the closest you can get to a perfect homemade Italian meal without having to actually prepare it from scratch. Okay, I know that's cheating but it's much better than prepackaged items from the supermarket. Not that that's bad, either.

On another note, I just saw these pictures of me taken by Sophia a while ago before lunch. If only I had enough time and money to devote to getting into medium format photography. Sophia took these without a light meter and they still came out amazingly well. I want to see more!

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homemade breakfast sandwiches

Let me preface this by saying that I have no idea why these photos came out in black & white. I'm really pissed off at Walgreens for continuing to mess up my photos every time and this is the last straw. So many amazing colors lost! Anyway, the other morning Brent prepared these delicious egg, bacon, and muffin sandwiches with a side of potatoes for breakfast. When he first told me about wanting to do this I laughed and called them "gourmet egg mcmuffins" to tease him but quickly took it back before he could change his mind about making them.

Brent's original intention was to make the potatoes into a sort of patty, flip it over, and bake it in the oven. That didn't really work out so he just continued frying them in the fresh sweet cream butter that he bought from Cheese Board the day before.

The eggs! To get the desired round shape which fits nicely in the english muffin, we poured the scrambled eggs into these round dishes and microwaved them. Yes, we microwaved the eggs. They actually come out quite cute and fluffy but still taste as good! I'm sure you can also find a mold and fry it, but that's just us.

When it came time to cooking the bacon, my health conscious freak of a boyfriend (just kidding chu, ilu!) refused to fry it in its fat and instead opted for baking it. The bacon was still surprisingly good even with the fat melted off. Okay, I'm not going to lie, I was pretty hesitant about it at first and almost had to beg him to fry it but it all worked out in the end, right Pika?

And here's our final spread before assembly! To drink we had bottled milk and valencia orange juice, well, he bought the milk just for me since he doesn't love it as much as I do. In addition to the potatoes, eggs, and bacon, Brent picked up an heirloom tomato for me and sharp cheddar from Cheese Board. Tomatoes and milk, he knows me so well.

All of you non Bay Area readers must be wondering what the hell this Cheese Board place that I keep ranting about is. It's this really superb pizzeria/store owned by its workers where each member is an equal shareholder. It's right by Brent's wine shop in North Berkeley so it's easy for him to swing by and pick up a couple freshly available items. These english muffins were baked and purchased the day before but still just as fresh and delicious!

See how cute the eggs came out? It fit perfectly in the toasted muffin, followed by two pieces of bacon torn in half, sharp cheddar, and a tomato slice for me. These were some seriously hefty sandwiches and I'm pretty sure neither of us was able to eat any more meals for the rest of the day after that. Excessive? Maybe, but totally worth it.

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insalata caprese

I may be an inept fool when it comes to cooking and depend on my boyfriend for those types of things, but as long as I stay away from the stove (and even microwave in some instances) I'm set. I'm pretty sure this series of photos should suffice to understand how to easily put this together. I used grape tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, (keyword: FRESH, sans preservatives and all), and basil from my local organic market, Berkeley Bowl. That place is definitely poisonous to your wallet but oh so heavenly to your tummy. Did I mention that I paid $4.99 for the Kewpie and found it for $1.50 at another market? UGH. Anyway, for the salad, cut everything up, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil, and top it off with salt and pepper. It's so easy even a child could do it. Oh wait, you can't let a kid handle knives; hell, I shouldn't even be near knives...

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lemon ricotta pancakes

Finally got around to developing film today. My boyfriend made these unbelievably fluffy lemon ricotta pancakes for us last week for breakfast. They were so adorable! I have a terrible soft spot for mini anything... burgers, hats, puppies, you name it. Anyone from Tumblr remember my obsession with Jack-in-the-Box's mini sirloin burgers? There's this bar across the street from Pika's which has overpriced sliders which I've been dying to try just because they're tiny and adorable. Ahh!

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your mom does not count as a fan

zara dress and platforms, vintage crinoline (underneath)

Another all-white outfit featuring my new Zara platforms. Today we took care of some chores and watched Julie & Julia downtown. I also managed to get a hold of my friend's DSLR to snap my outfit shots. Here you can also get a pretty good idea of how ridiculously high the ceilings are in Pika's apartment. Everyone around me seems to have a DSLR and it's about time I picked one up as well. My dad actually asked me once if I needed a new camera for my blog! I forget that a lot of people I know IRL do look at this, including my parents. While I unpacked my bags last month during my last visit home, I showed my mom my floral H&M maxi dress and she told me that she had already seen it on my blog. Oh momma! Well, we shall see about that camera...

(Again, no pictures of the shoes, sorry. Here's a frittata Pika made for lunch with yesterday's leftovers.)

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